‘Revenge’: Madeleine Stowe Apologizes For ‘Misleading’ Fans Over Victoria’s Death

Victoria Grayson’s fate on the series finale of ‘Revenge’ was just as Madeleine Stowe promised — she’s dead. Still, the actress totally confused fans by ‘confirming’ the death after April 19’s fake-out suicide, and now, she’s apologizing for being so misleading.

Revenge ended with a bang on May 10. After Victoria Grayson (Madeleine Stowe) faked her death in the April 19 episode, she ultimately suffered the real, disastrous fate after being shot by her one-time love, David Clarke (James Tupper), in the series finale. Find out what Madeleine has to say about playing-up her original “death” in the press!

‘Revenge’: Victoria Grayson’s Death — Madeleine Stowe’s Apology For Misleading Fans

“I was telling you the truth that she was dead; I just didn’t tell you when!” Madeline tells The Hollywood Reporter. “I apologize for having to [mislead everyone]. It was one of those…the things I told you that was true, so it was hard. But I do think the essential things I told you stick, certainly with respect to the fact that she had a standing death wish since season one.”

In case you forgot, Victoria faked her death by blowing up Grayson Manor and leaving evidence (including her own mother’s corpse!) to lead investigators to believe she’d been inside. After that shocking episode, Madeleine seemingly confirmed that her character’s fate had been met.

“I am not coming back to Revenge,” she told The Hollywood Reporter, definitively. “This season is the end of her storyline.”

True, that’s not a lie — Victoria won’t be coming back…nor will any character!

Madeleine Stowe Confirms Victoria Grayson’s Death: She Won’t Return To ‘Revenge’

“I’m very story-centric, and I felt strongly at different junctures that there were perfect opportunities to end Victoria’s story — once at the end of Season 1, but nobody wanted to do that. The other was at the end of Season 3, and I really felt her story was done there,” the actress told HollywoodLife.com’s sister site TVLine after the April 19 episode. “I had a long discussion with the writers, with [showrunner] Sunil [Nayar], with some executives from ABC…and I said, ‘What is a compelling reason to bring her back? This is a perfect ending right here. It satisfies something for the audience; Emily got her revenge, put her adversary in the rubber room and Conrad’s gone.’ But they felt there was more to tell, and they had the right to exercise that option. Going into this season, I really felt that it was time, so this was the end result.”

Well…not exactly the end result, because Victoria didn’t die in the explosion, and instead, was killed after being shot by her nemesis’ Amanda Clarke/Emily Thorne’s (Emily VanCamp) father, David, in the finale.

“I cracked up watching [the finale]; I didn’t have any tears” she added, after the series ended and the real truth came out. “This woman, as I explained, is really ready to die. I felt her story ended perfectly after season three, and the fourth season was ABC’s choice in terms of the story they wanted to tell, which was very much in keeping with Amanda’s point of view and having her rewarded at the end of the day for all the trauma that had been inflicted on her.”

‘Revenge’ Series Finale Recap: Emily & Victoria’s Final Showdown Ends In A Bloodbath

The Revenge series finale was certainly an emotional roller coaster, with both Victoria and David winding up dead, while Emily and Jack (Nick Weschler) finally had their happy ending.

Before Victoria died, though, she had her moment of revenge by getting to shoot Amanda, who survived thanks to a heart transplant! But in the night’s biggest twist, she kept having a recurring dream (or could it have been real?) that it was Victoria’s donated heart that saved her.

“She’s got Victoria’s heart, which is funny! We did a table read, and its as just a wicked funny turn,” Madeleine explained. “Then [the writers] did an embellishment in wanting to make it more from Emily’s psyche: DID this happen? Did it not happen? Was it a recurring dream? She is such an authentic witness, and I think the general takeaway was that they wanted the audience to believe it actually happened, but of course, you can never know [for certain].”

‘Revenge’ Series Finale: Fans Freak Out Over Victoria’s Death

Well, we don’t know what to believe for certain when it comes to Madeleine anymore!

HollywoodLifers, what did you think of the Revenge finale? Do you understand why Madeleine had to mislead us?

— Alyssa Norwin